Offbeat Occupations: Opening preschool ‘a dream come true’

Lawrence Journal World – Monday, September 17, 2012

Let’s face it — 4-year-olds can be loud, messy and often a handful. Someone who spends 12 hours a day in a room full of them either loves children or is incredibly patient.

For James Immel, who runs Immel Early Education Academy at 3045 W. Seventh St., it’s a little of both.

“You have to have patience, you have to be organized, and you have to be consistent,” he said.

From 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Immel takes care of six children at his business, which also doubles as his home. He feeds them snacks, breakfast and lunch. He puts them down for naps, plays music to them, reads to them and gets them ready for kindergarten.

Immel has quite a bit of experience in this field. He has worked more than 20 years in early childhood education for the Lawrence school district and Princeton Children’s Center. When the Lawrence school district expanded to all-day kindergarten this year, Immel saw an opportunity and opened his business earlier this month.

“All the stars were just lined up right, and this really has been a dream come true, to be my own boss and have things done my way.”

Immel said that the expectations for the average kindergartner have been growing year after year and that all children develop at a different pace, making preschools necessary.

“The state standards nowadays, the child entering kindergarten isn’t prepared,” he said. “They are so far behind socially and academically. They need that experience to help prepare them for kindergarten so when they do enter kindergarten, they can immediately start learning.”

His job is to get them on board. The trick?

“The key is to teach through play. That’s really key.”

Immel got involved with early childhood development at Kansas University, where he got a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and a minor in special education.

“I’ve just always enjoyed kids and was always drawn to those courses, plus they were easy for me.”

Immel said he was also one of the few males in the field, something that he views as helpful.

“What I have seen, especially in today’s day and age with all the divorces, kids really need a positive male role model and a consistent male in their lives,” he said. “They just respond well to me.”

Immel hopes to hire an assistant after more children enroll in the academy and to have one educator per six children, which he said is about half as many children per adult as a regular preschool.

This allows him to provide more one-on-one attention, whether its reading “Green Eggs and Ham” or playing “Twinkle Twinkle” on his guitar to the kids.

His hope is that such attention will further nurture the children and put them on track to be well ready for the next step.

“The preschool age will learn more, in the age span of 5 and 6, will learn more in that year than they will ever learn in the rest of their lifetime,” he said. “It’s great to see the growth.”

Comments from the article

“Mr. Immel is awesome! I requested him for my 4 year old son when I also worked in the building. Mr. Immel was everything we had hoped for and more. We still remember some of the songs, his always positive attitude and a few tricks of the trade he shared with us (like the gumball page). My son is now a 4th grader and still asks to go visit his beloved Mr. Immel. I’m pleased that others in the community will benefit from his personal touch. Good luck, Mr. Immel, and Mason says ‘Hello!’ (-:” – seventeen

“There is a reason the children respond so well to Mr. Immel. He is incredible. There really is no way to adequately describe his committment, passion, and love for the education of children, esp. special needs kiddos. Benji says ‘Hi, and thanks for being so good to me!'” – Christine Anderson

New $5,000 Teaching Award Presented (PDF)

Leap for Lawrence Newsletter: News from the Lawrence Schools Foundation & Lawrence Education Achievement Partners – October 2007— January 2008

The Lawrence Schools Foundation surprised Jim Immel, teacher at East Heights Early Childhood Center, on Monday, December 17, with a check for $5,000.

The Special Award for Dedication to Education is a new teaching honor established through the Foundation by a group of community members inspired by their fathers’ example. They are the sons of another group of anonymous donors (with the first name Bob) who provide the annual $10,000 Bobs’ Award. Their sons have funded the new $5,000 Special Award for Dedication to Education to recognize a certified teacher or paraeducator in the Lawrence Public Schools who goes the extra mile to help kids who need it most. The award honors someone who supports the school district’s mission of “Learning for All, Whatever it Takes” by ensuring that challenged and/or disadvantaged students learn.

The first recipient, Jim Immel, earned his bachelor’s degree at The University of Kansas and worked with preschoolers and children with autism for nine years in Overland Park before joining the Lawrence Public Schools in 1992. Jim served as a special education paraeducator for five years at Quail Run Ele-mentary as an early child-hood education teacher, for 11 years at Pinckney Elementary, and at East Heights Early Childhood Family Center since 2003.

“He’s exactly what every school needs – a hopeful optimist who loves to work hard to see children reach their potential,” wrote Kris Matthews, whose son Robbie was in Immel’s class last year. “My favorite moment of each day was walking by the window of his classroom after dropping Robbie off and hearing the kids singing…it took all that I had not to sit down in the well-organized, joyous circle and join in.”

“Jim shows a true love, not only for his kids, but also for his position as an early childhood teacher,” said Becky Hapke, paraeducator. “His love for school, teaching and children is contagious and all those around him can’t help but catch that happiness he gives off when he comes to work each day.”

Special Award for Dedication to Education

Lawrence Schools Foundation

2007, Jim Immel, East Heights Early Childhood Center